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Last week, I wrote about the comedy pilots that have been commissioned by the US broadcast networks to air next television season (from September/October). While we can’t know when (or if) any of these potential shows will be picked up or air on UK channels, here is an overview of the drama pilots set to premiere in a few months.
There really are a number of trends noticeable in each development season. One of the most obvious this time round has been an attempt to blend fairytale stories with procedural crime drama. Two of the three pilots featuring this type of story have been picked up for next season (Ronald Moore’s 17 Precinct didn’t make the cut); ABC’s Once Upon A Time features Jennifer Morrison as a woman drawn to a small town where fairy tales are real and NBC’s Grimm (from Buffy/Angel writers Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt) is a dark drama about a world in which characters inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales exist.
What we can also see are the networks trying to imitate cable successes like Mad Men by having dramas that are set in the ‘60s. NBC’s The Playboy Club stars Eddie Ciboria and Amber Heard in a drama about the legendary Playboy Club in Chicago whilst ABC will be airing Pan Am, which is about air stewardesses and pilots and their glamorous lives. Something else that was noticeable during development was attempts to tap into the success of Glee, the most high-profile of those shows is Smash, which follows the creation of a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.
It simply wouldn’t be television without the occasional remake (although NBC thankfully passed on Wonder Woman). This year we’ve got Rachael Taylor, Minka Kelly and Annie Ilonzeh as Charlie’s Angels. The concept is well-known so there’s nothing to explain, and I expect that if this is a hit, it’ll be bought pretty quickly by a UK channel.
One incredibly exciting prospect to look forward to next season is Sarah Michelle Gellar’s (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) return to television. She’ll be starring as twin sisters in Ringer, a drama about one of the two sisters taking over the life of the other after she believes her to have died. That’ll be airing on the CW, where potentially interesting supernatural/witchy drama The Secret Circle (from The Vampire Diaries executive producer Kevin Williamson) will also be showing.
Amongst the remaining relatively interesting pilots are Fox’s Terra Nova (about people who travel back in time and their dinosaur-based adventures), which, if you remember, was actually supposed to air this year. Fox also have J. J. Abrams’ Alcatraz, a thriller about mysterious Alcatraz inmates (starring Sarah Jones, Sam Neill and Jorge Garcia). Another project from Abrams is Person of Interest, which appears to be a straightforward action drama but is produced by Jonathan Nolan, so could be better than it seems. Awake (starring Jason Isaacs) is about a cop living two separate lives and looks really quite fascinating. The last one I’ll mention is The River, this is a horror pilot about a search for a missing person in the Amazon - it really depends what sort of a tone it has, but there’s a chance that it could be a winner.
Overall, the upcoming pilots for next season look to have a little more ambition than usual. We don’t often see so many high-concept shows being commissioned, with the broadcast networks frequently settling for procedurals focussed on lawyers, doctors or cops. Some of these seem like they could actually develop into shows that are appointment television and I personally am particularly hopeful that intriguing pilots like Ringer, Awake and Alcatraz are picked up by UK channels.
I must say the trailer for Alcatraz (the only show here that immediately stands out for me) is very interesting. Note the small appearance from British actress Parminder Nagra (ER, Bend It Like Beckham) - however it's bloody FANTASTIC to see Sam Neill back on TV. He's a phenomenal actor and I've honestly missed him in the ten years since he did the BBC's Space series, and the earlier Merlin miniseries. I missed his turn as Wolsey in The Tudors - really must catch up.
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